1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a progressive stamping die assembly apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for the manufacture of a wound stator core made from a continuous strip of material.
2. Description of the Related Art
The manufacture of parts, e.g., stators and rotors for electric motors, ignition assembly cores, or other parts which employ stacked laminas is well known in the art. Typically, individual laminas are blanked from a continuous strip of stock material and are then stacked and bound together to form the completed part. Progressive die assemblies are used for producing such lamina stacks, in which a strip of lamina material is fed through a sequence of punching steps to progressively form the individual laminas to the desired end configurations.
Individual laminas are typically formed as a plurality of discreet parts which are layered over one another to create a lamina stack having the overall shape and dimension of the desired finished part. For stator cores, each lamina within the stack includes a central opening, a plurality of pole piece portions extending radially into or away from the central opening, and winding slots between each neighboring pair of pole piece portions.
Such stacked laminar articles are made from a plurality of individual laminas which are manufactured as separate discrete layers that are then stacked upon one another. This stack of discrete layers are then joined to one another to form the final laminated article such as a stator core or other component. Stated another way, the flat, generally planar material from which the individual laminas are formed creates generally planar laminas which are arranged perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the final laminated article, such as the axis of a generally cylindrical stator core.
Alternatively, a wound laminated article may be created by winding a continuous strip of material around a spool, in the manner of a spooled tape, such that the substantially cylindrical stator core is created by winding several layers of the continuous strip over one another.
What is needed is a die assembly and method which is an improvement over the foregoing.